The Night has a Thousand Eyes
by Shaharra
Summary: Raito x L. Raito's life is put in danger when criminals who are angry at his success as a detective hire the infamous killer-for-hire L to put an end to his meddling. WIP
1. Target Acquired

AN: I wanted to see how well the first chapter of _The Night has a Thousand Eyes_ was received. Even if people hate it, I'm still going to work on it, but it is always nice to hear that people like what you are doing, and it works brilliantly as motivation.

Warnings: Slash, Raito x L, L's name, Matt's name (possibly), spoilers, OOC-ness,

violence, AU.

The Night has a Thousand Eyes

_"The Night has a thousand eyes, _

_And the day but one;_

_Yet the light of the bright world dies_

_With the Dying Sun._

_The mind has a thousand eyes, _

_And the heart but one;_

_Yet the light of a whole life dies_

_When love is done."_

Francis William Bourdillon (1852-1921)

The cafe was quaint. It had a welcoming, friendly atmosphere, it was clean, and the waiters there were always willing to offer their services with a smile. The food was inexpensive, but plentiful and well-made. The cakes were especially delicious. Altogether, it was wholly unremarkable. The tables were rather plain, and set far apart from eachother, offering at least the illusion of privacy. There were a few cheap paintings on the walls, and plants in the windows.

On this particular day, at this particular time, the place was mostly empty. It was too early for supper, and yet too late for lunch, and so it was no surprise that there were only seven people in the cafe.

A young man with unruly black hair and bad posture sat in the corner away from the others. He received a few curious glances from the other patrons, but he didn't acknowledge them, and soon he was left to his own devices. He had a piece of cake, chocolate, sitting half-eaten in front of him.

The table closest to the unusual young man was filled with a pair of elderly gentlemen. They seemed to be close friends, and were sharing a cup of tea with eachother as they caught up with what had been happening in their lives.

"How was your trip to Japan?" asked the older one, who had white hair and a well-groomed mustache.

"Oh, you know," the other replied with a smile. "I have always loved Tokyo. It has such an energetic atmosphere. And the people! So interesting."

"Yes, I can imagine." The first man took a sip of his tea. "I have seen pictures. The young people, particularly, are rather eccentric."

"They're vivacious, but it is good for an old man to keep on his toes. I enjoyed meeting some new people. One in particular. What was his name..." the second man trailed off. "Well. I have some pictures of him." He reached into his coat pocket, and withdrew a white envelope, evidently the one he was keeping the pictures in. "Have a look while I think of that fellow's name."

The first man opened the envelope and pulled out the pictures. His hands seemed to fumble, and he dropped them. Brightly colored pictures of people and places spanned across the floor, a few coming to rest at the feet of the young man with black hair.

The young man stared at them for a few moments before looking at the elderly gentleman who was apologizing profusely and moving to stand up so he could retrieve the pictures. Quickly, the young man stood and gathered up the pictures before walking towards the table where the two men sat. He held them out.

"Thank you, young man,'' the first gentleman said before accepting the photos.

The man with the black hair merely nodded and went back to his table, where he proceeded to finish off his cake.

"Ah, yes! I've got it now." The second man smiled widely. "Light Yagami. A fine lad. He is a detective with the National Police Agency in Tokyo. Very intelligent. I had a wonderful time speaking with him..."

The two men continued with their small talk.

The man with the black hair stood once again, set a few bills upon the table, and left the cafe. No one noticed him leave.

Tucked into the pocket of his worn jeans was a picture of an attractive Asian man with auburn hair and reddish-brown eyes. Light Yagami

_Target acquired._


	2. Target Confirmed

AN: Chapter two. Wow! I am terrible about multiple chapter stories, I rarely update them, but I'm feeling good about this one. Mostly because I have the entire thing plotted out. At least in my mind. Chapter three is giving me a bit of trouble, though... I like to update once I have the next chapter completed. I had two done, so I posted one, excetera. However, I can't say how long number three will take me, and I don't want to keep my readers waiting too long if I can help it. You all might lose interest! So, read and enjoy chapter two! I promise to do my best on the next one!

The Night has a Thousand Eyes

Two men sat on the floor of the dingy apartment. Two laptops and one desktop computer were arranged in front of them, all of them running. On the laptop to the left, a picture of a pretty Japanese man could clearly be seen. The other two screens glowed with documents and files, presumably of the same man.

One of the young men peering at the screens had unruly black hair. He was the same man who left the cafe with a photograph recently. He looked very plain and common, but he was in fact L.

L was known in a very select circle of people. He was the world's greatest killer-for-hire. Police agencies around the world had warrants for his arrest out. Underground agencies, such as the mafia and the Yakuza, also knew of him, as did many government officials and some wealthier people. People who could afford the fee he charged for his services. All of these people spoke his name with a measure of fear and respect. No one had ever survived for more than seven days once L was after them.

L had never been caught. No evidence was ever left at the scenes of his hits. It was rumored that he was a ghost; no one had ever seen him before.

In reality, many people had seen him. They just didn't know who he was. Only three people in the entire world could connect the name of L to his face. Two of those men were recently in a cafe with him, speaking of a young Japanese detective. Watari and Roger.

The other person was currently sitting right next to L. He was a young man, younger than L and probably no older than twenty. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head before adjusting the ski goggles he wore.

"Light Yagami, age twenty-three, male, IQ of 139." Matt gave a low whistle of approval "Almost as intelligent as you are, L. Member of the National Police Agency, stationed in Tokyo. The Kanto region. Officially has solved forty-seven cases dealing with drugs, prostitution, and gangs. Most likely a few dealing with the Yakuza. Unofficially, it seems as if he has been helping the NPA solve cases for years. Impressive. And he's very pretty."

L brought his thumb up to his lips. "Raito. His name would be pronounced Raito."

The other man rolled his eyes. "Don't see why. It says Light. L-i-g-h-t."

"Matt, I do not believe I am up to the task of explaining Japanese linguistics to you at the moment."

Matt, world class hacker and almost as legendary as the man crouched next to him, sighed in irritation. "Whatever." He took a long drag off of a cigarette he was holding in his hand. "The NPA was easy to hack into, as was the guy's college. Though it was kind of hard to pin his face to his name. It's spelled weird. Using the kanji _'tsuki.'_ But not that much of a problem."

L shot Matt a sideways glance. "I had faith in your ability to find him."

"Ch. 'Course you did. Wonder who sent the hit out on him?" Matt stretched again and flopped onto his back.

"The Yakuza, of course. He has been interfering with their business."

"Poor guy." Blue eyes gazed up at the ceiling. "You really gonna off him? He's just doing his job."

L remained impassive. He stood from his crouch. "He is doing his job too well, one could argue. But you know that I never question my orders. A hit is a hit, regardless of how law-abiding or not the person is."

"Cold-hearted bastard." Another puff of smoke was released from the hacker's mouth. "Soo... Japan, huh? Never been."

"Hm." The black-haired man shuffled towards a refrigerator and retrieved a piece of cheesecake. "Are you insinuating that you would like to travel with me, then?"

Matt sat up quickly and nearly dropped his cigarette. "Inviting me to Japan with ya?"

"No."

Matt flopped down once again. "Get a man's hopes up, why don't ya?"

L smiled a little pixie grin. "I am offering you a job which requires you to be in Japan with me. Surveillance. I have a feeling that this will be an interesting case, if Raito's files are anything to go by."

_Target confirmed._


	3. Interlude

AN: Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers. I appreciate the feedback I've been getting. I know my chapters are short, but that's not something I find that important, so it's not likely to change. Shorter chapters mean quicker updates at least, right? Chapter three is still being worked on, but I thought I would post this little diddy just to keep you all satisfied. Enjoy.

The Night has a Thousand Eyes

Interlude.

_Matt would later berate himself for being an idiot. He didn't know why he had done it. Any intelligent person, and he prided himself on being very intelligent, would have stayed miles away from the lonely hotel room he found himself in. He blamed his current problems on vodka and boredom._

_Matt was standing in front of the greatest and most dangerous hit man this world had ever seen. His hands were up above his head, a cigarette was being held between his teeth, and he was trying his hardest to figure out a way out of the situation. It seriously didn't help that he was still at least half intoxicated and his mind was being sluggish. Though, he wasn't sure if he would be able to get out of this alive even if he was sober._

_The strange man, with those cold, cold eyes, continued to point the pistol (a Walther PPK, if Matt wasn't mistaken) at him in silence, and Matt was fairly certain he was going to die. No one had ever seen L and lived._

_It started with the boredom. Work was slow, so Matt did what he could to keep himself entertained. He hacked into some of the most secure networks available and played around in them. He scrambled things around, deleted important files, was generally just a pain in the ass. But even that grew boring, so Matt downed a bottle of cheap vodka before deciding he would solve one mystery that he was very interested in._

_Who was L?_

_So Matt looked. He utilized all of his impressive skills, and while he didn't find any true or valuable information on the man himself, he did find clues leading to his whereabouts. _

_Who would have thought that Lady Luck was on his side? The man was in the same run-down, boring city as he was. _

_And Matt decided, in his drunken stupor, that he would pay the renowned L a little visit._

_That was how he found himself standing in the middle of a hotel room with a gun being held to his forehead by someone Matt was suddenly very afraid of. His brilliant idea had gone all wrong._

_"Um, yeah. Hey, man... It's s'pose to snow tonight. Know that?"_

_Silence._

_"A new restaurant opened up down on 53rd street..."_

_More silence. The gun didn't waver, and neither did those eyes. Matt couldn't stop himself from babbling. _

_"Look, I know. Stupid thing to do, sneaking into your place like this, L. Not that I knew you were L! 'Cause, you know, that would make this even more stupid of me! I was just, you know... bored. And drunk. Drunk and bored. I won't even remember this come morning! So, if you could just let me go, I totally promise to never do anything so dumb again. Just don't kill me, man. I'm not even sixteen yet, and it's not that important of an age for me, but I'd still like to see what it's like..."_

_L's head cocked slightly to one side. "How did you find me?"_

_"Well," Matt let the cigarette finally fall from his mouth. It was gone, anyway. "I hacked into Interpol's main computers, and traced your movements through your crimes. Last dude you hit was that rich bastard in Germany, so I hacked into his files and found the folks he was having issues with, then I hacked their shit, and just... Played follow the leader. It wasn't that hard."_

_"You're very good." The gun still hadn't wavered._

_"Like to think so..." He sighed. "Can I at least have one last smoke before you off me?"_

_And to Matt's astonishment, the gun finally moved. Instead of kicking back and firing a bullet into his idiotic head, it lowered. L lowered the gun._

_"You are not my next target. I see no point in killing you."_

_"You shitting me?" _

_He shook his head slowly. "I have been bored, as well."_

That was how Matt, the hacker, became the partner to the killer-for-hire, L.


End file.
